WND: 20 Years!

I started coming to Wednesday Night Dinner as a way to serve those in my community with whom I wouldn’t regularly interact. For many weeks, I found myself serving food, eating quickly, and then helping clean up dinner. To actually interact with the guests was intimidating to me. I did not have words to comfort or actions to fix situations. However, over time, something began to change. I began to see the guests were not coming to Wednesday Night Dinner to be comforted or have something ‘fixed.’ Instead, guests were coming for an amazing meal and to eat with a community of people who care. This was something I wanted to embrace!

Serving food and cleaning up soon became less of a default for me. Instead, I wanted to sit and eat with the guests. I wanted to get to know the guests and the guests wanted to know more about me. After months of coming to Wednesday Night Dinner, there was a particular week I was able to go and my wife was not. I was amazed at how many guests asked where Hannah was. Hannah and I had become a part of this community. My time at Wednesday Night Dinner began as an opportunity to serve, and has become a community that I desire to see, be with, and get to know more at each dinner we are able to attend.

– Nick Farkas, Bethany member

We have many faces we see each week at Wednesday Night Dinner, and even around our neighborhood. It is a joy and gift to have names and stories to pair with these faces. At Wednesday Night Dinner, the room is rich with story. Taking the time to sit down and engage with one person at a time is well worthwhile. Each dinner guest has a unique story and when they are willing to share a piece of it with you, it is a gift, a treasure to hold onto with care. We hear stories of housing issues, struggles to find jobs, lack of family and friends, loss and death. They share their stories of heartache and the trust they put in you to hold their story is powerful. Through it all, the guests laugh, tease, and express such gratitude for the volunteers. The room is rich with story and we have been blessed by the guests and their stories every Wednesday night.